JoWooD Productions and DreamCatcher Games Announce
The Orb and the Oracle

June 25, 2008, Toronto, Canada: JoWooD Productions and DreamCatcher Games, leading publishers of interactive entertainment software around the world, today announced The Orb and the Oracle will release Winter, 2008 for Windows® as the next installment in the bestselling saga, Dungeon Lords.

“We have eagerly anticipated releasing a new installment in the Dungeon Lords saga,” said Byron Gaum, Global Product Marketing Manager at DreamCatcher Games. “We’re really excited to offer Dungeon Lords fans a new dose of the combat, magic and incredible quests that this fantasy RPG is known for.”

Created by legendary RPG game author, D.W. Bradley, The Orb and the Oracle boasts a massive fantasy world filled with incredible action and meticulously detailed indoor and outdoor environments. Offering both single and multiplayer co-op game modes, the game is sure to engage RPG fans for hours on end!

The game features an advanced and robust combat system coupled with devastating magic spells for a variety of ways to vanquish your foes in real-time. Set to the tone of an epic soundtrack, players should prepare themselves for an unforgettable journey.

The Orb and the Oracle for Windows® will sell for an SRP of $39.99 USD. The anticipated ESRB rating is T for Teen. For further information please visit our website at www.dreamcatchergames.com.

Yeah! I’ll be rocking out to this savage piece of software. Dungeon Lords SE pleased me thoroughly, and this ample new beast will no doubt leave my palette satisfied.

JDR13

June 26th, 2008 02:38

Quote:

the bestselling saga, Dungeon Lords.

Er…… are they serious?

Guest

June 26th, 2008 02:39

Quote:

…players should prepare themselves for an unforgettable journey.

The humanity…

guenthar

June 26th, 2008 02:46

Are they talking about that horrible piece of garbage I played a couple of years ago or some other "Dungeon Lords" that I didn't know about. That description tells me it is the second. :rolleyes:

NFLed

June 26th, 2008 02:55

I enjoyed Dungeon Lords, it wasn't at all great or very good due to its flaws but overall it was generally enjoyable.

CrazyIrish

June 26th, 2008 02:57

I am generally a pretty "savvy" consumer. I read reviews (with an appropriate grain of salt I might add), I check out forums for bits of dev commentary, and of course I buy products made by people whose name I trust. D.W. Bradley gave me the wonderful experience known as Wizardry 7. I figured 'Hey, I can't go wrong, right?' Well…whats the saying?…Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me…
…
…
…

Melvil

June 26th, 2008 03:27

say what you will about the overall direction of Dungeon Lords and its completely unfinished overworld….the dungeons were awesome and I finished the game based on that alone.

POLYGON

June 26th, 2008 03:51

Well today is not April's fool day, so they gotta be serious
If they're willing to pay for a new game why bother with a sequel to a disasterous first game, why not make an original?

Korplem

June 26th, 2008 05:30

Quote:

players should prepare themselves for an unforgettable journey.

The first time I read that line I read it as an unforgivable journey.
:'(

narpet

June 26th, 2008 05:31

I too really liked Dungeon Lords. I only played the "collector's" edition… so I didn't go through what many purchasers did with the first release of the game. But, the game I played was a blast… with combat that was much more satisfying than many big name games like the big O.

Dhruin

June 26th, 2008 06:03

No purchase from me on principle. I know some of you (as above) had a good time - I received the single buggiest/least complete game I have ever played, with a juvenile storyline, amateur encounters, cardboard-cutout NPCs, repetitive combat, poorly envisioned character development system and an empty gameworld.

Bradley is a hack - and full of crap, too.

skavenhorde

June 26th, 2008 06:04

This quote makes me wonder if they are going to just make the same mistakes twice. "The Orb and the Oracle boasts a massive fantasy world filled with incredible action and meticulously detailed indoor and outdoor environments. Offering both single and multiplayer co-op game modes, the game is sure to engage RPG fans for hours on end!"

I played DL and liked it well enough. The world was hollow and the NPCs were a joke but I knew that before I bought it and didn't expect anything other than an action RPG. So I wasn't too disappointed when there were bugs and almost no NPCs.

As for this new one I have a feeling if they try for multiplayer and a "massive fantasy world" they will once again fall short of their goal. The old saying comes to mind, don't bite off more than you can chew.

@Dhruin - The hostility towards DW, poor guy's just trying to sell his product ;) but tell me did you like Wiz 7? I rate that one up there with Ultima 5. W&W was great too and I don't think I'm the only one that thinks that since the forums on that game are still pretty active over at Ironworks. Now those are just two great games but still very entertaining, not "hackish" at all.

zyklop

June 26th, 2008 06:44

Better let´s tape txa to his chair - he will jump through the ceiling after reading this news… ;)

Dhruin

June 26th, 2008 06:44

I like Wiz7 well enough but noone with any talent designed DL - the proof is in the game. You tell me - did someone with any talent write those NPCs? Take Obsidian - roundly criticised for not being able to finish a game (KotOR2) but they at least started with a decent design document, which is more than DL can say.

Yeah, I take DL a bit personally. I did a phone interview with Bradley back in 2004 - had to get up at 2AM and the phone call from Australia to Atlanta (?…forgotten) cost ~AUD$100. He told me how that system was finished and this system was being tested and how intricate the factional system was etc etc. Now, I understand I'm just some schlep from the fan press and Bradley was only interested in positive press but when you tell me a bunch of stuff is finished that doesn't even exist, I'm going to call bullshit.

So, tell me a bunch of crap (yeah, yeah - just marketing), then I import the game (AUD$130 from the US) because I liked Wiz7 and then try to sell me the Collector's Edition?

I take a pretty balanced approach to unfinished games (ask me about ToEE or KotOR2 etc) but taking a step back and looking at the design intent, I just don't see any genuine, quality attempt at writing anything beyond cliche high-school-level dungeon master stuff, which ticks me off after all that money and misdirection.

Corwin

June 26th, 2008 07:13

"The game is sure to engage RPG fans for hours" Yep, he's right. We'll be engaged in discussions about how crap the game is, as we were with the original!! It'll be long remembered too, just like the original, but likely for all the wrong reasons!! Only a FREE review copy will get me to play it, I will not spend a cent on any DC, or Bradley game ever again. I'm with Dhruin on this one!!

zakhal

June 26th, 2008 08:41

Quote:

Dungeon Lords was named #1 Worst Game of the Year in the 2005 PC Game Awards issue of Computer Games Magazine (March 2006).

I guess the original was so bad they had to make a sequel. All publicity is good publicity.

fatBastard()

June 26th, 2008 09:12

I started playing the original Dungeon Lords as a fighter with the intent to branch into rune magic later on. I did that after a couple of hours of using my sword and I started scouring the country side for runes … only after even more hours of fruitless search did I find out that they forgot to actually put any rune magic spells in the game.

That was when I uninstalled the game and never again will I touch anything with "Dungeon Lords" in the title. Unpolished, buggy and rushed games is one thing but Dungeon Lords went far beyond that.

chamr

June 26th, 2008 09:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dhruin
(Post 84279)

No purchase from me on principle. I know some of you (as above) had a good time - I received the single buggiest/least complete game I have ever played, with a juvenile storyline, amateur encounters, cardboard-cutout NPCs, repetitive combat, poorly envisioned character development system and an empty gameworld.